Just out of curiousity Michael, how do the costs of the certificates, belts, administration, hombu registration and tester's expenses all get paid in your system? If you have a viable option for us, we would gladly take it. As it is, our system doesn't cover my costs so I would be happy to change the system.

Our system is unique to the Caribbean due to the situation here. But it doesn't have to be this way if there is a better way. I am looking for any viable alternatives.

Rock

I a not really familiar with the inside workings of the organisation. I pay my monthly fees for the club (Thats' been 54 Euro/ 3 months. I'm moving to England, it will be a bit more over there) , and a yearly fee (25-30 Euro) for the organisation. What the fees for the seminars cover, I do not know exactly, but it sure covers flight (England-Germany) and accomodation of Sensai. The cost for seminars are usually from 5-20 Euro per unit (1 1/2- 2 hours), cheaper for students and unemployed, dan-seminars are usually more expensive than general units.
As far as I know, the organisation is fairly independent, I don't think our dan-grades are registered with Hombu. I can see, how that probably makes things cheaper. D.A.N./UKAU is bound to Aikido in the tradition of Master A. Nocquet (Dynamic Aikido Nocquet).
Shodans do get the black belt presented, the kyu grades either buy their belts, borrow them from the club, or the belts get just passed down. Many of the higher dan-grades do have a grading permission, though the entries in the passport need to be verified by John Emerson Sensai, who is technical director of the organisation.
My personal impression is, that the costs (which probably are lower than yours, anyway), are more distributed over the various fees (e.g. with time you're graded less often, but still pay the same yearly fees). There might be other regulations, I am not aware of... but basically, that's how it seems to me how it is working.